MyE28.com

LDW update. Getting these old repairs out was brutal. Layers of sealant, screws, adhesive/job weld, and spot welds. Hammer chisel, angle grinder. Drivers side up next.

A lot of time has gone into carefully disassembling the prior repairs and factory spot welds to get to solid pieces to patch in. Today might be the final day for this part of the work. We think we found our mobile weld person and might even have a line on complete front floorboard/rocker panel sections.

Amazing work. Great to see projects like this one going on nearby... perhaps one day I'll be lucky enough to see you guys in one of several C&Cs around the area.

Enjoy, this will be a really special one. Subscribed!

Fanclutchnut wrote: May 12, 2021 8:06 AM ... We used 80/20 solder, tinning flux, marine grade double wall adhesive heat shrink tubing, and TESA high temp tape to rewrap the harness. We did out best to maintain equal length on the repairs. It came out very well and Brody did a majority of the soldering.

Good job with the wiring repairs. One thing you may not know: generally you want to stagger this kind of repair in the harness so you don't end up with a bulge from all the heat shrink. It doesn't really matter in this case but if you're trying to pass a harness through the firewall or something you might need to think about it.

Looks like you're doing the floor pan repairs the right way - I just riveted in a new panel and called it a day because I didn't feel like welding anything.

Galahad wrote: Oct 17, 2021 10:50 PM

Fanclutchnut wrote: May 12, 2021 8:06 AM ... We used 80/20 solder, tinning flux, marine grade double wall adhesive heat shrink tubing, and TESA high temp tape to rewrap the harness. We did out best to maintain equal length on the repairs. It came out very well and Brody did a majority of the soldering.

One thing you may not know: generally you want to stagger this kind of repair in the harness so you don't end up with a bulge from all the heat shrink. It doesn't really matter in this case but if you're trying to pass a harness through the firewall or something you might need to think about it.

I recently had a harness failure on Vlad caused by me not staggering splices. Good advice.

Thx Foon! Hope to see you too! We’ve only seen one M5 IRL and have never sat in one. We have had some e28 seat time though. Would love to meet up with some owners in the area even before we finish!

Foonfer wrote: Oct 17, 2021 9:29 PM Amazing work. Great to see projects like this one going on nearby... perhaps one day I'll be lucky enough to see you guys in one of several C&Cs around the area.

Enjoy, this will be a really special one. Subscribed!

Thx for the suggestion Galahad and verification Cek. I hadn’t considered that. These aren’t passing through any panels like you mentioned. I will keep your idea in mind if we do any repairs that do.

Galahad wrote: Oct 17, 2021 10:50 PM
Good job with the wiring repairs. One thing you may not know: generally you want to stagger this kind of repair in the harness so you don't end up with a bulge from all the heat shrink. It doesn't really matter in this case but if you're trying to pass a harness through the firewall or something you might need to think about it.

Looks like you're doing the floor pan repairs the right way - I just riveted in a new panel and called it a day because I didn't feel like welding anything.

cek wrote: Oct 26, 2021 4:38 AM
I recently had a harness failure on Vlad caused by me not staggering splices. Good advice.

The previous repair panels are all out and adhesive, sealant, and tack welds removed. What a battle. We are now headed back in the other direction and it feels good. Deciding where to stitch in new panels and where to get them. One of the issues is the panels we need, if taken in one piece on each side, will probably make the donor car fall apart.

Updates!

Had the wheel out from when we were removing the old floor repairs. Brody gave it a good cleaning. Came out pretty nice.



Off the wheel dollies and out of the garage. Time to have the badly pitted floor repaired. It came out really nice and will make moving the car far more easy on the dollies.




This move also marks the first time that we have driven the car. It was only from the driveway and backed into the garage but it was gratifying. Unfortunately we confirmed that there is a fuel leak at the filter/fuel pressure pump area. I thought it was one of the rubber lines but turned out to be a pin hole created by rust (red circle in photo). We took that opportunity to order new filter, hard fuel and return lines, all new hose and clamps for a majority of the fuel system, including under the hood. Fortunately ECS has it all in stock. The only thing I can not find is the hard line return on the passenger side for the charcoal canister. We may have to make them from line stock. Any advice here would be appreciated. Did I mention the OEM bmw hose is $$$?



Next up We’ll be ordering the sheet metal from Valcas Garage.

Great work.
The m88/3 is a great motor!!!!!

Thank you! Most of the car is in rough shape and some days, it’s hard to see the finish line. However when we pop the hood and fire it up, we get re-energized. The S38 is just a beautiful piece of functional art!

e30 Alpina B6 3.5 wrote: Feb 20, 2022 12:05 PM Great work.
The m88/3 is a great motor!!!!!

Fuel supply refresh parts haul for a 1st Anniversary M5 gift!

Supply line
Return line (pending delivery)
7M fuel hose
30 clamps
1M Vacuum hose
Lower return hose coolant
Fuel filter
Expansion tank hose

Updates and photo dump.
We began our repair on the rear left side valance and bumper mount. You can see there is some fine Napoleon here(what Brody and I call layered rust flakes). We cleaned it all up with wire wheels and flap disks. We’re going to need to patch in a section of the spare tire well where the bumper mount attaches. The PO provided the repair panel with the car so we rough fit it. It’s a complex piece as there are many panels that intersect here. Trunk floor, 2 rear valance, bumper support, spare tire well. We carefully deconstructed the patch panel so that I would weld in with factory spot welds and some butt welding. There need to be more fine adjustment before it can be clamped and welded.

We got a bunch of parts sourced too. Mtech 1 wheel, which we rewrapped with a cover from redlinegoods. It came out pretty good for our first time. The msport stitching we did gave it a nice touch. We also were able to find the rear floor vents, some of the tool kit and even an old set of natur seat skins and cushions removed from an M5 during a interior restoration. We met an fellow M5 owner who was kind enough to give them to us. We plan on using the passenger seat skins to improve our drivers seat which is pretty beaten. It should match our passenger in wear if all goes well. Lastly we are still waiting for our front floor panels from Valcas Garage. Things are kinda backed up at customs.

Wow! You guys are putting in work! Thank you for keeping us updated. I can't wait to see the finished product.

Thank you! We are really hoping to have phase one of the car done for this summer and be able to run around town with it.

Mdreamer wrote: Apr 13, 2022 9:19 AM Wow! You guys are putting in work! Thank you for keeping us updated. I can't wait to see the finished product.

Lots of work indeed and many good photos of what is being done. Great to see the documentation and keep it coming.
-Rod

I have been close to buying/trading for this car twice. Glad to see the progress. It has an interesting story, and funny enough Funfunfer brought it down from the east coast in the days of Cash for Clunkers. Last time I saw him, I sold him headers and what appeared to be a Billy Boat exhaust, not sure if it made it your way.

Keep up the good work!

Hey Pavel, thanks for checking in. It’s fun to piece together the history of this car. One of the things that intrigued us was that the car was originally from the north east and serviced in our county. The rear plate frame gave that away and was confirmed by the book of service history receipts.

I spoke with Jim’s family and it seems the header and exhaust were installed on another M5 (didn’t know he had more than one e28 but knew he had a 34 and 39)

We did get an exhaust with our car but we don’t think it’s BB. It looks like light it might be ANSA or Bosal. If anyone can confirm manufacturer, that would be great. Here’s a pic

Pavel wrote: Apr 19, 2022 5:28 PM I have been close to buying/trading for this car twice. Glad to see the progress. It has an interesting story, and funny enough Funfunfer brought it down from the east coast in the days of Cash for Clunkers. Last time I saw him, I sold him headers and what appeared to be a Billy Boat exhaust, not sure if it made it your way.

Keep up the good work!

Welding practice sesh. Cut up some of the panels we removed and started to practice. We’re using FCAW with a Lincoln Weldpack 100 and .30 wire from HF. We know this isn’t an optimal rig but it’s one that accessible to us and easy to start with. We’ve watched a ton of videos about flux core welding on 18g body panels (fitzy, jim).

Very encouraged with our first day results. Not terribly surprised. We understand some of the principles from doing electronics soldering (heat management, material flow, work pace, surface prep). Here’s some pics of Brody’s first pass showing bead, penetration and then how it looks dressed. We got even better results as the day went on. A couple more days of practice and I think we are a go.

Last pic is the tools we recently purchased installed into our kit. We still need one wrench, 2 screw drivers, and the Allen key tool.

Lots of stuff getting done. Fit and welded our first donor repair panel into the car. It came out pretty good. Next up was the rear tow point. Ground off all the undercoating and rust, 2 coats if POR15. Passenger rear door bottom was in rough shape but structurally sound. Ground off all the rust and 2 coats of por. Removed the weather strip for this job. Lastly, we cleaned up with exhaust with wire wheel and degreaser. Looks like it’s made of low grade stainless and might stay nice looking with periodic maintenance.

Still working on our welding skills.

Update: rear valance, spare tire well, trunk floor and bumper mount repairs are complete. All welding and POR15 is complete. All that’s left to do is Stoneguard finish and undercoat which we will do all at once with the rockers. This was our first attempt at fabricating repair panels with curves and body lines. Using only hammers, a dolly, chisels and a bench vice we went at it. We are really happy with our results. There was lots of test fitting of the bumper to ensure fit and alignment. We did the POR15 3 step process which was difficult on the underside of the bumper support and valance. Next we have the trunk area a detail. The floor will need to be sanded and painted, but that will happen later. We fitted the trunk trim panels to see how it look and fortunately it was all there. We’ve started on the passenger side jack point rust and will move to the drivers side next. Lastly some artsy shots.

Awesome thread, save and documentation.

Very inspiring.

Thank you! The encouragement helps!

slownrusty wrote: Dec 09, 2022 9:59 AM Awesome thread, save and documentation.

Very inspiring.

Happy 2nd Anniversary M5!

Been working on the interior while it’s cold out.

Front seat frames got a clean up and we’re working on the drivers side front leather repair. If anyone has a lead on a lower left bolster Natur Leather cover from either a drivers or passengers seat, please contact us!